What happened 20 years ago today? Oh, Nevermind...

[Viking]

Ouch.

I'm Rush fan #1. I know

[il Padrino Ute]

I'm not a Nirvana fan, but it is a better band than Radiohead.

[wuapinmon]

Ouch.

That 2112 in his avatar is purposeful. He only stops for the best.

[Viking]

That 2112 in his avatar is purposeful. He only stops for the best.

...rewards a long day's toil.

[Commando]

Nirvana. See, I was a 13 year old kid, about as angry, depressed, and disenfranchised as could be. I could tell it was different than other rock, but you know what? Not that much different. I was already listening to Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, which was actually a lot different and super progressive. I looked in the liner notes and could see that Kurt, Krist, and Dave seemed friendlier than Axl, but maybe bigger assholes? I wasn't sure. There was too much irony at work. They talked about themes I couldn't get it up for-- environmentalism? feminism? anti-conformism (which should have been like shooting fish in a barrel for me, but somehow I got the impression that they would have me conform to their ideal anyway). I felt like I was supposed to care about what they were talking about, but I couldn't be bothered to give a shit.

Maybe if i had somehow found Smashing Pumpkins' Gish (which came out a couple months earlier and was also produced by Butch Vig), I would have had that one watershed, earth shattering moment that changed my world forever. That's a record that had real heavy and nuanced emotional weight.

I loved the cassette and played it often, but I honestly had too much other music and stuff going on to honestly attribute anything to Nirvana. Everyone knew Axl was a dick and that Warrant was corny. The music world and the kids Nirvana didn't like anyway kidnapped them against their will and raised them up as Gods against their will-- much like C3PO was by the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Kurt decided he didn't want the life he had sacrificed everything to obtain, and I can't say I blame him.

Maybe if Kurt had lived to pull off his plans to break up Nirvana and record the shitty new wave album he had designs on, we'd have a bit different idea of the significance of Nevermind. I don't know. As it stands, we're 2 generations deep into having mythologized Kurt after he killed himself at just the right time.

I think it bugs me to weigh how good a record is basing it on cultural significance rather than artistic and musical criteria.

[TripletDaddy]

I think it bugs me to weigh how good a record is basing it on cultural significance rather than artistic and musical criteria.

Go listen to Faith No More today and then listen to Nevermind. Then tell us which album is better now that it is 20 yrs later.

[Commando]

Go listen to Faith No More today and then listen to Nevermind. Then tell us which album is better now that it is 20 yrs later.

Hahaha point taken, and I never said it wasn't good. It was excellent. Kurt Cobain will always have more fans than Mike Patton, though.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Hahaha point taken, and I never said it wasn't good. It was excellent. Kurt Cobain will always have more fans than Mike Patton, though.

Mike Patton has played with John Zorn including being on the Naked City album, which makes him infinitely more awesome IMO.

John Zorn actually produced the first Mr. Bungle album.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Butch Vig is an evil genius and one of the greatest producers of all time. His work on Nevermind was groundbreaking by itself. (musically I still think Bleach was the better album, but Nevermind had a GREAT sound and excellent mix despite its intended grittiness).

That said, Cobain/Grohl are up there just south of Lennon/McCartney as influential songwriters go.

Of course they all trail the Gibb/Gibb/Gibb triumvirate...

[MarkGrace]

Butch Vig is an evil genius and one of the greatest producers of all time. His work on Nevermind was groundbreaking by itself. (musically I still think Bleach was the better album, but Nevermind had a GREAT sound and excellent mix despite its intended grittiness).

That said, Cobain/Grohl are up there just south of Lennon/McCartney as influential songwriters go.

[wuapinmon]

That said, Cobain/Grohl are up there just south of Lennon/McCartney as influential songwriters go.

[NorthwestUteFan]

I didn't say they were great, or wrote meaningful songs, touched lives, or built testimonies. But over the past two decades they have held much influence over popular music.

[MarkGrace]

I didn't say they were great, or wrote meaningful songs, touched lives, or built testimonies. But over the past two decades they have held much influence over popular music.

But they were never a songwriting duo like Lennon and McCartney were. Those two are known for being a great team (at least in terms of what they produced, even if their relationship wasn't necessarily great) and being immensely prolific together, and Cobain/Grohl didn't have that type of relationship. If you watch the documentary About a Son, Kurt talks about how one of the major frictions in the band was the fact Krist and Dave wanted writing credits on the songs, which irked him because he didn't feel like they were doing any of the writing. In terms of Nirvana stuff, I know Grohl wrote that b-side Marigold (which was pretty good), but outside of that I don't think he contributed much to the writing beyond maybe a riff or two. I guess you meant they were each songwriters and once in the same band? But I don't think people think of Lennon/McCartney that way.

[Commando]

That analogy is so wack, yo. Grohl is SO much more of a songwriter than Kurt Cobain could have ever been. Kurt was writing punk songs and his great strength was his emotion and energy. The song structures were simple and the lyrics meant nothing; he literally was copying the Pixies formula. However his grasp of dynamics and aptitude for expression made him singular. His songwriting was really so simple. Simple is great, but he was no lennon OR mccartney and never had a "Day in the Life."

[marsupial]

Someone unloaded their 90s CD collection at my local Goodwill. Nevermind, Pearl Jam Ten, The Crow soundtrack, Weezer's blue album...

I never had Nevermind or Ten on CD, only tape and was going to pick them up. But they were too scratched up. I haven't listened to either in at least a decade.